Dollar Dizzy

This is the funniest Charley Chase short I've ever seen, and I must have seen close to thirty of them by now, virtually all of them silent. This one's a talkie.

It's got a lot of genuine laughs, as compared with the usual faint smile, occasional titter and a lot of rolling of the eyes. It's long enough to have a couple of good running gags.

The plot is pretty simple. Charley inherits two million dollars and goes to a resort hotel to avoid gold-diggers. Thelma Todd arrives at the same hotel a bit later for the same reason. She asks for her usual suite, and the manager evicts Charley from it and moves him to a room on a different floor.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have a chance to tell Charley about this relocation before Our Hero goes into the room he thinks is his and finds Thelma there. Each are convinced that the other is a gold-digger after his/her money, and wild antics ensue.

Todd is gorgeous as always, and gets to wear some high-class Art Deco threads in this one, since she's rich.

One of my favorite actors from the Roach stable, James Finlayson, the guy who screws up his face and pops one eye, shines as a particularly stupid house detective. He got the biggest laugh in the whole movie out of me.

If you like Charley Chase, you'll love this film. If you only see one Charley Chase short, make it this one.

Dollar Dizzy (1930)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Charley Chase inherits a couple million dollars but he's warned to watch out for women who will want to use him for the money. He heads off to a resort for some R&R but runs into a woman (Thelma Todd) who is in his room. He thinks she's one of these money-grabbers but what he doesn't know is that she too is a millionaire. This is a pretty disappointing short as it starts off decent but the final seven or so minutes are just downright flat. I'm really not sure what happened but the movie just hits a wall and I simply quit laughing. I think some of the jokes were really annoying including one where Todd keeps going from one room to the next seeing a burglar and then screaming out for Charley. The very sequence is mildly entertaining but by that time things are already done. I did think the start of the movie contained some good laughs and this includes a rather long sequence where women keep pretending they're injured so that Charley will come save them. Another funny sequence is at the very start when Chase is first told he has the money. Both Chase and Todd are up to their usual good standards and we even get James Finlayson as a detective and Edgar Kennedy as one of the lawyers.

Charley Chase inherits a large sum of money and goes to a resort where he encounters gold diggers. At the same time, rich Thelma Todd comes to the resort to escape from money hungry men. Of course, the hotel double books Charley and Thelma into the same suite. Jimmie Finlayson is cast as the hotel detective, and as usual, gives an energetic slapstick performance. Edgar Kennedy is seen early in the film as Chase's attorney. He doesn't do much, but seeing Kennedy is always a plus. For once, he is not Kennedy the Cop. Laurel and Hardy regular Charie Hall has a bit as a bellhop. We also see young Dorothy Granger in a small role, years before her tenure as Mrs. Leon Errol.

The film is funny and charming, but is missing a background musical score. In fact, there is no music at the start of the film during the Crane sisters spoken titles or at the ending credit. The lack of music makes the film a little dry and calls attention to the film hiss. This short could be as funny as "The Pip from Pittsburg", but that film has LeRoy Shield's background music helping it move along. Maybe Hallmark should add recordings of the Shield music by the Beau Hunks to cover up the hiss. Hal Roach did this himself, adding a musical score to some of the early Laurel and Hardy efforts. Roach's adding of Shield stock music to "Blotto" makes it one of Laurel and Hardy's best films.

The film begins with a cute scene where Charley is phoned by lawyers and told he's inherited $2,000,000. His reaction as well as his mother's and even the cat's are all pretty priceless! The lawyers advise Charley to leave town in order to avoid fortune-hunters who will read about his inheritance, so Charley heads to a resort and tries to remain incognito. Unfortunately, soon the word is out and Charley becomes an extremely popular guy with the ladies.

When Charley is accidentally put in the same room with an heiress who is also trying to avoid gold-diggers, they both think the other is trying to make advances on the other because of their fortune. So, both go to crazy lengths to avoid the other--leading to a very funny final scene.

While the situations in this short aren't super-hilarious in and of themselves, the film really makes the most of the characters' reactions--and I laughed out loud because of this. The opening and closing scenes worked so wonderfully because the actors (including that cat) pulled it off so well. And, in between, the scenes where the women pretended to be in distress to get his attention are very funny as well. Truly this is one of Charley's best sound comedies.